Air is clean enough to end emissions testing in 26 NC counties, EPA says

Car and truck owners in 26 North Carolina counties will no longer have to have their vehicles tested for emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced late Tuesday.

The EPA granted a request by state regulators that emissions testing be ended in 26 of the 48 counties where it has been required. The state Department of Environmental Quality said last fall that air quality in the state had improved to the point that testing in those counties was no longer necessary, and the EPA agrees.

The change should take effect by the end of the year.

Orange, Chatham, Granville, Nash, Harnett, and Wilson counties are among those where emissions testing will no longer be required and where owners will save the $16.40 fee for the annual emissions tests. The tests are still required for vehicles in the remaining 22 counties, including Wake, Durham, Johnston, Franklin and Mecklenburg.

Vehicle owners in all 100 North Carolina counties must still get an annual safety inspection. The charge for that is $13.60.

The goal of emissions testing is to identify and make repairs to cars and trucks with high emissions of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides that cause ozone, the main ingredient of smog. Vehicles built before 1995 and most newer models with low mileage are exempted.

Ozone levels have been decreasing for years, thanks to cleaner burning fuels and stricter emissions standards for new cars and trucks, factories and power plants. Last summer, ozone exceeded federal standards somewhere in the state on four days, the fewest since the state began monitoring the air in the early 1970s, according to the state Division of Air Quality.

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 11:14 AM.